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| Kinglets are often found actively searching for food in winter. |
Take a walk in the bare winter woods and you’ll undoubtedly notice kinglets – tiny, highly active songbirds feeding high in the trees. They are in the Regulidae family, which comes from the Greek meaning ‘petty king or prince’, and refers to their regal, brightly colored crowns. Legend has it that these little kings derived their names from a fable about the election of the king of birds, defined as the bird that could fly the longest distance. While the eagle was able to outfly all other birds, he was beaten by a tiny bird that had secretly hidden itself in his feathers.
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| This male Ruby-crowned Kinglet is showing his namesake ruby crown. |
Here in Central Texas, you can find both Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets most reliably from November through March. The Ruby-crowned kinglet (Regulus calendula) is about 4 inches long, an olive-gray color overall with darker wings and white wing bars. The males have ruby crowns that are barely visible and often covered by other head feathers, until responding to aggressive encounters by other males or even curious humans. They sometimes forage in mixed flocks of chickadees and titmice, and may also show their crowns when in close proximity to other birds.
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| Female Ruby-crowned Kinglets lack the namesake ruby crown. |
Golden-crowned kinglets (Regulus satrapa) are similar but slightly smaller than their ruby-crowned cousins. The males have an orange crown patch bordered in yellow and black, while the females have crowns that are yellow and black. The males also raise their crowns during aggressive encounters. Both species of kinglets sing fairly frequently even in the winter, with the male ruby-crowns having a complex, rich warbling song, and the male golden-crowns having a much higher pitched, shorter song.
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| The female Golden-crowned Kinglet has a gold crown, but it lacks the orange patch in the middle that only the males have. |
Kinglets have a very rapid metabolism and their tiny size means they must constantly forage to keep up with their energy needs. In fact, they are so small that it would take 3 to 5 birds to total a mere ounce! They are always in motion and continuously flicking their wings. While seen most often gleaning insects and their over-wintering eggs from tree branches, they can forage anywhere from the ground to the treetops, and often catch active prey while hovering or flycatching.
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| This Golden-crowned Kinglet paused briefly from its nearly constant foraging and feeding. |
If prevented from feeding for even twenty minutes, they may lose a third of their body weight and could starve to death within an hour. Golden-crowns are the smallest birds to routinely survive freezing winter temperatures, and huddle together in protected areas at night. Their populations decrease during severe winters, particularly when ice storms make foraging much more difficult.
This season take the time to walk through the winter woods and listen for the gift of song given to us by these littlest of kings. Take your binoculars, and see if you can spot their crowns of ruby and gold!
